Moon and Sun
by Suferix
Summary: The wild daughter of Whitebeard was found by them when she was only two years old, on a small boat by a ship of fire on the brief of being captured by other pirates. She grows up on Moby Dick, along many brothers, with strange marks on her light skin and a lost past. Will she stay on the ship or set out to find her own story?
1. New Nakama!

**Okay guys, I hope this version works better. Dunno what happened with the first one. See what you think.**

 **New Nakama**

 _ **Prologue Marco PoV**_

The storm had come out of nowhere. We had been through many storms before since I joined over five years ago. Sixteen years old and strong enough to be recognized by Whitebeard. I had heard so much about him and had set out to find him myself. Not to kill him, as many pirates are determined to, but to swear my loyalty to him. I had searched for him for a good three months until I found Moby Dick, and stood on their reiling, yelling my promise of loyalty to the greatest pirate and my inspiration. I had been met with laughter, not too much of a surprise, but stood my ground until it stopped. Making ones way into one of the strongest pirate crews in the world, I did not expect it to be easy. Either people thought of you as foolish or way too big headed. I was not big headed, never had been, but I knew I was strong enough to take on most of the crew. Behind the taunts and pointy fingers, Whitebeard met my gaze with a hint of a smile, seconds before a cannon ball hit the water only meters from the ship. A wonderful coincidence; Gol D Roger and his pirates were approaching, all with great smiles. Another battle was about to rise. The Pirate King never missed a chance to fight Whitebeard, not even when stumbling over them like today.

\- I guess it is playtime sons. Whitebeard grinned while rising.

I remember being flabbergasted over the fact the two strongest crews in the world were about to clash. Whitebeard had turned to me and, only with a look that told me that this was my time to prove myself. I had had a bunch of speeches prepared, but it seemed I did not need them.. I had just had time to introduce myself and offer to Whitebeard my services, with the knowledge I would probably have to start as a cleaning boy. But my chance had come when the cannon ball had notified the Roger pirate's presence. Many would see this as a curse, I saw it as a blessing. The two enormous ships collided and after agreement between captains, it apparently was the Whitebeard pirates turn to board _Oro Jackson._ I have never been an eager fighter, but knew that it was needed on the seas. I felt the need to not throw myself into battle and risk making a mistake. To be fair, this was the strongest pirates in the world. I got dizzy by the thought.

I climbed the mast a good few feet up, watching the men fight. It was like watching a choreography. Most of the men laughed while jumping over sticks, ducking from flying sand bags coming towards them, having tug-of-war over a beer can. The more serious fights also seemed to be made with a smile in all its harshness. None of these crews were planning on trying to take the other one out, due to the fact they would lose too many members in the process. I smiled and let go of the mast. A blue light surrounded me and I softly and elegantly floated onto the other ships reeling. The fights stopped and everyone's eyes aimed up. It was show time.

\- Who's the brat? I heard someone say.

\- Oh we don't know, some kid that wants to join the crew.

 _\- Hahahhaa_ , why? Boy, what are you doing joining Whitebeard? Don't you recognize who is the Pirate king?! Wouldn't your dream to become part of his crew?

\- I choose my own destiny and mine is to be beside Whitebeard for the rest of his days!

I said this loudly, very loudly, and strong. My voice almost never had this much stamina. Many of the men had gone back to their fighting party – which was pretty much what it was, many bottles of sake were being thrown around, hell someone even mistook his bottle for his sword and swung it towards someone's shield so it broke and they both broke down in laughter – while some others still inspected me.

Well then you should know what you're up against! A tall man with black long hair and sunglasses, burst and started to swing an axe towards me. I managed to sweep towards one side to avoid being hit, but this guy was fast, aiming another swing. It gave me half a second to check my surroundings, no one else were aiming something at me, and so I could let myself on fire once more. I spread my arms out and the warm blue flames made me lift. I knew I was not as strong as these fellas but I could show my speed, and my Devil Fruit ability off. I knew He was watching. After aiming and missing three more swings at me, one had come really close to cut my foot, the tall man laughed and scratched his head.

\- What ability is that boy? Blue oiled flash?

\- I am Marco-yoi, I ate the _Tori Tori no mi_ , model Phoenix! I yelled and spread my wings once more.

\- Kid's sure got sum balls. I heard someone mutter.

\- Yeah, get out of here before you get hurt, boy!

My wings sank to my sides. Of course this was nothing to them. They had seen the world, they had seen everything. Not two seconds had gone before a sword was coming my way, I woke up from my thoughts, cursing myself for not being more awake. I lifted from the reeling but a rope was now stuck to my wrist and I was drawn towards a Roger pirate.

\- Im sure _Sench_ ō would appreciate a Mythical Zoan!

My whole being turned into a Phoenix, cause of rage and fear. I felt like a scared bird, and it was probably what I looked like. The man was strong and would not let go of the rope while laughing. I felt like a fool. It made me angry. All of a sudden my wrist felt light and the man had jumped away. I had set the rope on fire and the blue flames had licked his hand and burnt it. I took a couple of beats into the air and landed on Moby Dick where there was calmer. I was no real threat or treasure for any of them.

\- Are you hurt angel? I heard a voice ask me and I turned around.

A red haired lady with a nurse outfit stood beside me with her hands worryingly holding each other. I hadn't realised I was still a bird and quickly changed again so I was standing there with my stripy shirt and shitty jeans.

\- Nah, I'm fine… thank you…?

\- Dorothy! Head nurse of this ship. I have cared for these men since the very first day!

She sounded proud and by the look of her rather wind burned face, it seemed she hadn't had a very stressful time here. Only wind weather and joy could make a woman grow old so gently. Her grip around my arm ¨however, wasn't that gentle, when she took me to the side and sat me on a chair. She took up some cotton wool and a bottle of some pink liquid and started patting my forehead with it. It hurt.

\- Leave us Dory. I heard a voice dark as thunder and stood up. There he was. Whitebeard.

She did as she was told and left me alone with the enormous man. I couldn't manage to look at him.

\- Meet my gaze son. He said and I forced my eyes to.

\- What makes you think I would let you come with us?

\- Nothing, sir. I simply swore my loyalty to you. You will have it whether or not you let me become a part.

\- Garararraa…. He laughed and asked:

\- Where are your parent's boy?

\- My father left when I was born, my mom took well care of me until she sadly past away three years ago. I have been working as a blacksmith to earn food and a place to sleep. I have no fear of the ocean and I want to roam it freely…

\- Then become my son.

\- Eh..?

Now, five years later I understood the meaning of those little words, and how undeservingly easily I had earned them. Oyajii has said how he saw how I belonged on his ship even before I had taken on a Roger pirate. Nothing I have meant more to me ever since.

\- _Marco_ , only you can stand daydreaming during a storm a like this, help taking down the sails! Charlie from fourth division yelled and Marco had to snap out of his sudden mindful state. The storm was aggressive and the waves grew bigger and bigger along with the intensity of the rain. The Whitebeard Pirates had just left _Kilauea_ and was heading towards the Grand Line once more. The wind got stronger by the second and it was difficult even for eight men to douse the sails. With good help from their splendid navigator, Fleur, who managed to lead all four ships towards calmer waters, when someone suddenly yelled from further up the ship and told everyone to look north east.

\- Something lit up over there!

\- It's a ship!

\- Turn _Blue Moon_ 90 degrees!

One of the three gray whale ships, smaller than Moby Dick, changed course and turned towards the fire on the ocean.

\- What is going on? Whitebeard had come onto deck. He was usually up for storms like these but he suffered from a cold at the moment, so he had been told by the head nurse Dorothy to stay under deck. She was one of the very few people he actually listened to when it came to it.

\- We see a light Captain; they steared _Blue Moon_ it its direction.

\- Follow her.

\- Yo _u heard Oyajii, follow the ligh_ t!

Blue Moon reached the small ship first. Enormous flames roared from deck and defeated the now softer rain. Another ship was on its way from there, with their crew yelling to each other. Must have been a looting going on here.

\- Marco, check after survivors! Vista called from _Cascelot_ and Marco did not have to wait for further instructions. He lit his blue wings and swept over the flames. Not a soul on board, at least not outside the cabins, but the flames were still too bright and alive for him to fly through.

\- I find no one! He yelled.

In the meantime, _Cascelot_ had approached the other ship where there was way more life and noise:

\- Can you see it? Someone screamed from the railing of the stranger ship.

\- Don't let it get away!

They had not yet spotted the large ships that were approaching from behind, they were way too busy looking for something on the dark waves.

 _\- There_!

\- Well don't just stand there, get her!

 _Her_? Vista looked at his right hand Embleton. They are looking for a girl. He could not decide whether these guys were saving her or had set that boat on fire to catch her.

\- Don't let her get away, she is the key! Don't let that little shit get away!

 _The latter it seems…_

\- Marco!

\- Alright alright! He said and _swooshed_ past Vista and Emble towards where the smaller ship's crew was aiming. They noticed him.

\- What the hell is that?! One shouted, pointing at Marco, but saw the enormous figure that was _Cascelot_ and silently knocked his crew mate on the shoulder so that he would turn around. One by one they turned around .

Marco wasted no time but put on his sight that was better than that of any living creature of this world. He almost immediately saw the little boat that almost tipped in the waves. On board was a very small creature shining in the dark. Without further thought he lowered himself onto the boat where he could barely stand. The little bundle was a cascade of silvery light hair with a little person underneath. Wearing nothing but a little gray dress it laid in foetus position, trying to make itself as small as possible while shaking like a leaf in the storm. When Marco had jumped into the boat, he saw it was a girl. A very small one, and she became stiff from the sudden presence.

\- Don't worry I will not hurt you.

He reached out to touch her head but she just squealed and hugged herself even harder.

\- Oi! Captain! The Whitebeards are after her too! Someone yelled from the stranger ship.

\- This can't be happening! Not after all we have went through to get this far!

A thin bald man with skin as light as the hair of the little girl on the boat reached the reeling. A long black coat covered his body from the rain that made his bald skull as shiny as a ball. The creepiest part was his mouth. It was too big for his thin face and the eyes were a bit too intense and very light watery blue. Marco turned to the girl again.

\- Oi, you'll have to come with me or those creeps will take you.

The girl squeaked, he could see her face now. She didn't meet his eyes, but looked straight ahead as if she was looking at his knees. He sat down.

\- That's right, so you'll have to come with me, we can help you home!

He reached forward and grabbed her. She screamed, but he decided he wasn't going to care. In this situation, even a big fluffy bunny could have taken a hold of her and she would have been terrified still. This was no place for a child. But as soon as he had her against his chest she held on to his pink shirt like her life depended on it, which it pretty much did. He held her with one arm and the other took one wing flap onto their ship. Bullets went through the sky from the stranger ship before a voice yelled.

\- Are you trying to get us all killed?! That is Whitebeard! If we hit any of his crew we are dead meat!

That was true. Few people stood up against Whitebeard. Especially when there was only one ship against four. The little girl was now safe. As soon as Marco had landed, Dorothy was there and aimed to take the girl from him. As soon as the little one felt another pair of hands on her, she screamed, even worse than when Marco had grabbed her. Her little hands squeezed his shirt harder and her legs flew around his waist. Or as far as they could reach which wasn't really far around him.

\- Who is this? Dory asked and pet the girls back instead.

\- She was on a boat that the other crew was looking for.

\- Alone?

\- I could not find anyone else. The ship is on fire, but no one is there.

\- Take her under deck and put a blanket around her. She is freezing.

 **Aight, hope you enjoyed it, more to come soon xx**


	2. Aimeey

**Sum weekend reading for you guys! Hope you enjoy it xx**

* * *

Marco went to his room, which was the only place he could think of to take her, found a blanket and embraced her with it. She looked like something from a fairy tale. Her thick hair was damp from the rain but still as bright as moonlight. Her eyes were as light but bluer. Marco did not know what to do; she was looking at him with a confused look on her face, but other than that she was lifeless. He needed to warm her, quickly. But he did not want to make any sudden movements, like run like hell towards the kitchen and lit a chair on fire. He sat down with the girl that had started to make tiny noises. Her foot had fallen out of the blanket and she tried to pull it back in with poor result. Marco took it in his hand and reacted on how cold it was. With no further wait, he felt himself get warmer and his blue fire surrounded the two. He started with her foot and let the warmth spread through her body. She started to relax and he could feel her fall asleep. _Is that good_? _Should she fall asleep_? He got a bit panicky, got up and went out to find Dory.

It was still raining up on deck where he assumed Dory was, back in the nursing cabin, taking care of injured. There was a little bit of a walk towards it and the rain was pouring down. The last thing he wanted was for the girl to wake up from being drenched in cold water again. The blanket had slid down a little and Marco tried, without waking her up, to take the blanket and cover her again. After a few failed attempts, he succeeded but he had to keep a piece of blanket in his mouth while carefully, and as fast as he could without waking her, make his way towards the nursing cabin where Dory put a band aid on Otto's forehead.

"Uuh Dowy-shan…" Dory turned around and started laughing at the sight. A soaking Marco was standing in the doorway in a very awkward position with a little bundle in his arms, which he had obviously tried to keep warm and dry, without moving too much. Some of the blanket that surrounded the child, he had between his teeth and he held one of her feet in his hand while the other was busy holding her steady.

"Sche fell achleep or phassed out... helph" Marco said worringly.

"You're fine" Dory said to the boy she had put a bandaid on, lovingly slapped his head so that he would leave the bunk.

"Doing well there?" She smirked and went up to Marco to take the blanket from his mouth. This revealed the child who still held onto his shirt with her eyes open.

"She's awake now. Marco, come here. Put her on the table",

Marco did what he was told, and put the girl on the table, while she protested.

"It's just for a second." Marco soothed but Dory went in between.

"Go see if there are any clothes we can put on her. Check with Haruta, he must have some shirts or so that could suit her somewhat, that he's willing to give up." Dory knew that was not true. Haruta had a hard time giving away his precious shirts, since they were hard to find. He only went for the 16th century image which was not easy to come across, if you did not sew them yourself which he often did, bless the boy. He would not give a shirt up that easily. She knew Marco would have to fight him for it. Marco did not seem too happy about the idea but Dory thought it would be good to get his worried mind out of here. She looked at the girl who stood in front of her, looking at Marco.

"Hello there". Dory said to the girl in the softest voice she could, which was not very gentle. She was used to bullying around big strong men all day. You could not win their respect by being soft.

"I will need to take those clothes off, dear, they are very wet and you will get a cold".

Marco hesitated in the door before he left. The little girl protested once more, looking at the door where he had disappeared, but one look from Dory and she put her arms up in the air. Dory's heart melted a little. She undressed her and drew a cloth with warm water on her face and back, and gave her a clean dry blanket from a drawer. She had done this quickly but had noticed the marks that covered the child. Swirling patterns, not even an inch wide, covered most of her little body like snakes. They were not very noticeable, just a bit lighter than the rest of her skin. Dory had never seen anything like it… They did not seem to hurt her or anything. Before she could study them more, Marco came back with a white shirt and a black eye.

"Fought him for it"... He stated and gave it to Dorothy who took out a nail and thread and started adjusting the shirt while Marco went to stand by the girl.

"I saw some marks", Dory started and Marco turned to her.

"What? Like is she hurt? Are you hurt?" He turned to the girl who still stood there, looking at him with big eyes.

"No, but there were light marks over her body. It seems it is a part of her. Look at them." she said. The girl had taken a few steps and was now right next to Marco and he had to lean back a little bit to be able to take a damp string of hair from her face and saw that, crossing her cheek was a light pattern swirling its way down towards her neck.

"It is like that on her whole body". Dory said with the nail in her mouth.

"What are they?"

"I have never seen anything like it. I thought they were frost bites but they are not, nor anything dangerous I don't think. It seems it is more of a pigment. I will have to turn to the books. I really have never"… Her voice broke down in mumblings and Marco turned to the girl again.

"You'll be okay!" He said and patted her back.

Dory finished and held up the shirt that was now a lot smaller than before and looked more like a little dress.

"I think this should suit her, get her here and we will put it on."

Marco went over and sat on the bunk bed while he let Dory put the gown on the girl who made small whimper noises, as loud as she dared. The dress suited her and she made an effort to sit down on Marcos lap, thumb in mouth.

"Yer gonna keep her?" Dory smirked.

"I have to take her to Oyajii. I'm just afraid she'll get scared."

"Yeah.. he is intimidating but you also know he has a heart of gold."

Marco nodded, he knew.

*Knock*Knock*

"Oyajii?"

"Come in son".

Edward was in his room resting in his bed while the crew had dinner in the big dining room. The rain had not stopped and he needed to rest more frequently than before which annoyed him slightly. And this stupid cold..

"Sorry to bother you, but I..." Marco entered with something in his arms. A small child. Edward sat up a little more and frowned.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Well... that ship that was on fire, we think she was on it. Someone had put her in a life boatand we rescued her. So now she's here"

"I see. Well an angry ocean at night is no place for a child, eh. Let me see her".

Marco took a few steps towards Edward who inspected the girl who seemed surprisingly calm. Maybe she was just way too tired to protest anymore.

"Did you see any more people with her?"

"Nah, she was alone on the boat and the ship was on fire, I couldn't see anyone. Nor in the water. They may have been taken by that other pirate ship, but I did not sense anyone there either except those pirates".

"Who were they?" Edward asked.

"None I recognized, a nasty looking captain with no hair and a wide mouth".

"Sounds like no one I've heard of either. Probably rookies"

"They were after her specifically..."

"Mm... What's that on her face?" Edward pointed at the marks in her face and on her arms.

"Some kind of pigments I think, Dory saw them too"

"Never seen anything like it..."

"Oyajii.."

Edward looked up.

"What should we do with her?" Marco asked with a low voice.

"Not much to do, let her stay here until we find her a better home. Now, go give her something to eat and drink. She looks pale".

Marco did as he was told and took her to the dining room where only a few of his nakama remained. He sat down and asked one of the chefs to give her something, and he returned with some meat and sake. Marco turned to him.

"Dude..."

"Sorry commander... old habit" he mumbled.

"She's like two! Give her some porridge or cream or whatever...!"

Not long after, the head chef returned with some warm milk and a cracker with jam.

"What did Oyajii say?" someone asked.

"We're gonna keep her for now. Keep her safe, until we figure out what to do with her".

"Yeah, a pirate ship is no place for a child like her.." someone else muttered.

A silence hit the group...

"So what's her name?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence, while Marco tried to help her drink the milk from a massive beer mug.

"I dunno, hey.. what's your name little one?" Marco asked her and she looked at him, and then at the others and tried to think.

"Ahii..me, Ahmiihe"

"Ahime?" Marco tried

"Ahiimm..e"

"I don't think she knows herself" Jozu said with a low voice. He had been told to sit a bit further away since his giant face scared her.

"Aimey? Is that okay? You like that?" Marco asked and she nooded while licking the jam off her cracker.

* * *

 **Thank you guys for reading. Soon more to come! Yay! Have a great weekend 3**


	3. Lost

Days passed without Moby Dick finding a suitable place to dock. They had been far out at sea when Aimeey was found and most islands were inhabited or very hostile towards pirates, or any person for that matter. So for the first time in forever, they did not dare to dock, because of this blasted child running around on deck like she owned it. She didn't duck when she ran in between someone's legs so that he had to lift the big box he was carrying. She didn't hesitate to climb up to sit on someone's lap while he was playing chess. Never was she afraid to enter the kitchen during dinner when rush hour had hit. Hell she even wanted a taste of the sake they had saved for a special occasion such as… a Wednesday. It took her a while to warm up to some crew members. At first Jozu was far too big for her to dare to approach, even though he had tried to sit down and call her in a soothing voice that could only come across a bison trying to talk to a mouse.

"Give it up Joz" the crew laughed when she ran off for the hundredth time. She did not warm up to him until one night, during a battle, when she usually should be well hidden in the deepest corners of the ship, locked up in safety. Somehow, no one knows how, she had made her way up on deck. Jozu, in the corner of his eyes saw a small white flash run towards him.

"What the f-. _Who let Mey out_?!"

He spent the rest of the fight fighting with one hand having Mey in the next, while she was laughing and touching his diamond skin, loving how it shone in the moonlight.

Some got her affection without even asking for it; Marco being one of them. She loved Marco more than anything. Whitebeard tried not to interact with her at first, but sitting in his chair, reading the news or discussing something with someone, she could wander up and bring her blanket - the one that had been given to her on her first night - and sit under his leg and chew on her fingers.

Marco could tell the other crew members started to notice her. Many men that were usually loud and obnoxious during drunken nights went more quiet when she was around. The ones that did not care about her only moved out of her way. Captain's order was to let her roam freely on the ship and the ones that did not appreciate her presence, the short time she was there, could run it by him.

After three weeks of having the girl with them, they finally found a village that looked pleasant. It was decided they would dock on the other side of the island to let some of the crew collect fruits and nuts while a small other crew took the girl to the village, mostly to buy her new clothes so that Dory didn't have to steal the men's shirts to make little dresses out of. No words about her leaving the crew had been uttered and most members were only happy to have her around. Charlie and three of Marco's best men took Aimeey with them with orders to get her some decent clothes while Marco and the others went exploring. She could not have been more excited from where she sat on Charlie's shoulders.

It had been a bit weird for the four men to walk into a clothing shop to get some small dresses for her and blushed when the nice ladies smiled at them. After what have seemed like fifteen hours, they were finally done dressing the child and walked out with several bags with outfits, how that happened none of them had a clue of. They went to get lunch and Aimeey got to choose whatever she wanted. Two young women came up to say hi and patted Aimeey on the head while smiling so brightly the guys could not help but do the same.

"Nothing more attractive than when a man takes care of a little child, don't you think?"

"Oh yes! Who's daughter is she?"

 _"Mine_!" All four of them burst and the girls laughed again and left.

"Wow… little did I know that children were this much of a chick magnet", Pete said.

"Well, don't get used to it. We have to find her a decent family, remember", Tobo said and looked at the little girl trying to use the big fork to eat her potatoes. The other three gave each other a look. They knew Tobo had not been thrilled about the fact that they had a two year old little girl on the ship. Dragged the masculinity down a great deal he claimed. And she was a pain in the ass, making everyone her slaves.

"Captain's orders remember"! Tobo said.

"Well… Wouldn't you think Marco would wanna be in on it? We can't just leave her on a doorstep.." Charlie said.

"Let's not bother the chief with this minor task. We could look out for some decent people and just try and leave her there, surely they will take her in!"

The rest of the men just sat in silent.

"Let's just walk her down the street and the way she interacts with people, she'll forget about us pretty soon!" Tobo pushed.

It didn't take long until Aimeey had charmed a little family in a park and the guys could sneak away after they had left her bags nearby. Charlie thought all the way back to the ship that this was for her own good. And it was _Captain's orders_ , Tobo kept reminding them. When the sun was about to set, they went back to Moby Dick after a few pints at an Inn, more convinced they had done the right thing.

Marco who had started to get a bit worried, saw Tobo and his gang come back to the ship. He had been a bit surprised when he had offered to take Aimeey into town, but Oyajii had asked Marco to assist him in exploring the beach and the deep forest. Aimeey had needed clothes so he had let Tobo take her. A burning sphere of doubt blocked his airways when he saw that no girl was with them. Whitebeard had also noticed this and asked them where the tot was. The guys stopped in their track and Tobo, who was a bit tipsy at this moment took a few steps forward.

"Well, dear pops! We did as you said..!"

Silence.

"Ahem.. well.. The ship was too dangerous, so … we thought…"

"Where is she?!" Marco yelled and suddenly the men appeared to find something on the ground terribly interesting. Tobo kept on:

"We, we left her with a family that seemed alight. In a park. She seemed happy enough when we saw her last!"

"You just .. left her." Whitebeard mumbled with words that felt like an upcoming thunderstorm.

"We thought…"

 _"You morons_!" Marco yelled, jumped down from the ship and grabbed Tobo's collar. He knew that this had been his idea.

"You never liked the fact having her on the ship, admit it! Being too insecure in your own masculinity you cannot stand caring for a toddler! _Admit it_!"

"Shut up Marco!" Tobo burst. "I do not need to take this crap from you! This was Captain's orders. I was just doing what he told us to do several days ago!"

Marco released his collar, threw a dark look at his friends and turned to look up the ship and Whitebeard.

"I am disappointed in you, son. I had really started to like that child." Whitebeard mumbled.

"Wh- what do you mean?" Tobo stuttered while Marco started to smile widely.

"I say we need to take her back before something happens!"

A small team with Marco in the lead this time, Tobo and two more went to get Aimeey back. It was pitch black in the forest and they had to bring lamps. Tobo had to remember exactly where they had left her, which was a bit of a pain since he had had rather a few pints since. When they finally reached the park there was no one around to be seen. Marco's heart had not stopped beating heavily, he almost got a bit exhausted. The village wasn't that small and she could literally be anywhere if he knew her correctly. He didn't know better than to shout out her name, loudly. The others took his example and shouted while running in different directions. People started opening their doors and windows and asked what was up, and Marco tried describing her as well as he could! More and more people started helping them look when they saw the worry in his eyes. Soon a dussin village members ran around looking for her, shouting her name. The ice cold claw that had a hold of Marco's heart would not let go. The panic of not getting her back was too great and when another half hour had past, he exploded towards Tobo with closed fists.

"What the hell have you done?! You just left her I will not forgive you!"

"Marc!" one of his men shouted.

"How could you just leave her?!"

"Marco!"

Marco had to turn and look to where Rey pointed. There she was. Just standing there about 20 feet away, looking a bit confused with frowned eyebrows. Marco didn't say a word, just stumbled towards her and stopped just a few feet away from her and sank down onto his knees. Their eyes met. It seemed like Aimeey was torn between not entirely being sure about what all the fuss was about and an anger about being left behind with people she did not know.

"I'm so sorry, Mey. I would never have left you. Tobo's an idiot. I should never have left you alone, please forgive me!"

"She's two she won't get what you…" Tobo started but turned silent when Aimeey threw herself in Marco's arms and held on to his collar tightly. Without a word he stood up, held her as tight and started walking back. The others thanked the confused villagers for the help and ran after Marco. Back to the ship.

 **Until next time!**


	4. Foodvalten

"Land-hoy, yoi!" Marco yelled while coming down from the sky.

"Oi puppet where were you? We've reached land, get ready to jump". Big bro Teach laughed next to Mey who got ready and jumped out into thin air, being swooped up by Marco to sit on his back. She always came with him when he flew over the island to check out if there were villages, enemy ships or something else worth reporting back. Five years old now, Mey had become part of the Whitebeard ship and was always excited to check out new islands. They had been sailing for days and were now at the second half of Grand Line. The air was warm and the island looked green and fertile.

"What do you think?" Marco asked her and she could only scream with joy when she saw wild horses several feet down drinking from a lake and other children playing at the edge of a village. The island seemed to be somewhat protected due to massive cliffs surrounding it, making the only entrance very visible in the large bay at the center. It looked very inviting.

 _ **SWISCH**_

At least fifty arrows flew in their direction and Marco barely dodged them.

" _Shit_! What was that about?!" he exclaimed and was just about to have look down when another group of arrows came flying.

"Let's get out of here!" he yelled and sat course towards the ship while Mey protested loudly that she wanted to see the horses.

"We can't look at the horses, stupid, we are being shot at!"

"I wanna see horses, stupid!"

They came back to the ship a mile off the coast in front of the entrance.

"No good?" Jozu asked.

"Nah they were shooting at us, it seemed rather peaceful but I guess it's not. Should we barge in?"

"I say we wait until dark…"

"I WANNA SEE HORSES!" Mey kept screaming, still on Marco's shoulders.

"Oh shut up about the horses will you, we can't enter the island until after dark when you're in bed anyway" Marco scolded. Mey rarely got this upset but she started crying uncontrollably and no one really knew what to do.

"Come one, don't be a brat.." Marco snorted and walked off while Jozu tried to hush the screaming girl - who kept yelling the word _stupid_ \- holding his hands up, making them diamonds which he knew she loved. She didn't care and just screamed even more.

Marco sullenly made his way towards Oyajii to give his report, and ask to wait until nightfall to enter, to avoid fighting and unnecessary injuries on innocent people. Suddenly the ship tilted and he almost lost his footing. _What the hell_..? The ship straightened itself for just one moment before it started feeling like they were falling.

"We're sinking!" he heard someone yell out of the blue. Immediately he ran to the railing to check what it was that was dragging them down, must be something big, a Sea King of some sort. Had they entered a calm belt without even noticing it? No that could not be…

The ship tilted once more, making half the crew fall. What was going on? Mey still stood on the deck screaming stuff about patting horses but for now, he couldn't care less about her. This island was a deceiving one, looking so calm and peaceful but in fact had snipers all over the place and some sort of guard in the water not allowing anyone to enter. He managed to check over the railing and did not see anything but calm water glittering away and the floor of the sea with yellow and grey rocks and… wait _what_?

"We're hitting bottom!" he screamed, "turn she ship!"

"That's impossible" Tobo said, running up to stand beside him, "the ocean was NOT this shallow when we got here"

"Well how do you explain that?!" Marco said and pointed on the fish laying on the waterless bottom flapping away.

"Where did the water go?" Tobo said dumbstrucked.

A fog of confusion lowered itself over the crew and for one moment there was complete silence except from Mey's cries. A loud voice made everyone jump.

"What is going on?" Whitebeard asked. He was now standing on deck waiting for someone to give him a freaking report.

"The water Pops…" someone said, "it's gone"!

"Did you cause it?" Marco turned to Oyajii. Everyone else also did.

"Of course not. Now, what is going on?"

"Well, I checked out the island from the air. It looked peaceful, but we got attacked by two rounds of arrows and I had to turn back. This must be another tactic to keep ships away". Marco answered. "But we do not know what it is!" Tobo filled in " _will you shut up_?!" he yelled at Mey.

"She has not stopped screaming since we came back" Marco muttered, "wanted to see some damn horses and when we said she couldn't, well..." he gestured towards her.

"Let her be for now, now everyone, we need to figure out a way to get out of here", Whitebeard said.

"You heard Captain's orders let's…" Tobo started but quickly went silent when a strong rumble filled the air. Everyone once again looked at Whitebeard who shook his head.

"Don't tell me.." Marco turned around as a massive shadow towered over the now seemingly very small ship. Well, the water would have to come back somehow…

" _Hold on to something_!"

A giant tidal wave roared towards them and swept the ship up with a force that made Marco think for a second "this is it, I'm gonna die…"

They were swept up into the air and rode the wave that ran furiously towards the green island. Everyone screamed almost as loud as Mey had, who by the way did not cry anymore just stood there in shock while someone had grabbed a hold of her foot to keep her steady. The ship came to an abrupt stop when it hit one of the high cliffs that surrounded the island and stopped the wave from drowning everyone living there. It became utterly silent for a few seconds.

"Great, we're stuck at the top of a freaking mountain on a hostile island…" Ray muttered.

"Is everyone okay?!" Marco yelled, standing on a beam looking over the ship and got several murmures as answer. Somewhat okay was good enough.

"That was quite the entrance!" a voice no one recognized laughed from even higher up than they were. Marco spun around to see a man with grey long hair and beard and several necklaces smile down at him. Sitting on a big black cat he was grinning down towards the pirate crew.

"Horsie!" Marco heard from behind him and was barely able to get a hold of Mey's shoulder as she was running towards the creature sitting on the reiling.

"Who are you?" he asked while throwing Mey over his shoulder where Ray catched her while she protested loudly.

"I am the Shaman of this island of Foodvalten, my name is too long for you to remember so just call me Doc. Everyone else does". The panther lied down and the man jumped off.

"You are most welcome here, but to be fair, you could have used the main entrance" Doc grinned and stretched out his hand to Marco for a greeting.

"Welcome..? With all due respect, Shaman, I was almost killed by three dussin of arrows when I checked out your island". Marco said. Doc raised his eyebrows.

"That was you? Oh dear, we are so sorry, you looked an awful lot like a bird. We were simply out hunting dinner".

Marco bitterly heard the crew burst out in laughter behind him as he grew sour.

"This is so great, I can see the gravestone, here lies Marco the flambeed Pheonix!"

"Hahahaha, respected pirate; head meal on the banquet, apple in mouth and all"!

"Bet you'd have the taste of chicken, commander!"

" _Enough_!" Whitebeard's voice silenced the laughter and they stopped somewhat, only because everyone could see Whitebeard had an amused look on his face as he approached the scene.

"I'm so glad this entertains everyone…" Marco muttered and took a few steps back and smacked a giggling Ray on the head.

"Oh my!" Doc exhaled, "I thought I recognized the flag, no wonder the great entrance, forgive my ignorance, dear Whitebeard!"

"No need" Whitebeard smiled "but for what it's worth, that was none of my doing, I was hoping you could explain the event". Doc raised his eyebrows as he sat down on the railing, still eying Whitebeard.

"Oh. From what I have heard, You are the Paramecia user of the Gura Gura no Mi and the _Sound of earthquake rumbling_ "?

"That is indeed correct, but please mark my words, this was none of my doing. We were simply going to dock by the main entrance when low tide suddenly hit and created the wave".

"Well! It was certainly nothing that has happened in these waters on that level. Not during my many years on this island". Doc assured. A confused murmur spread across the ship.

"So we are in fact welcome to stay until we can get our ship down back on… water level?" Marco asked.

" _Of course_!" Doc seemed to snap out of a cloud of wonders and jumped up.

"Be our guests! You are most welcome to stay for as long as You want! We shall have the great banquet you were all talking about. Actual bird shall be served, not to be alarmed my dear boy!" he turned to Marco while saying so and the crew burst out in another roar of laughter.

The banquet kept on for days and the Whitebeard pirates had no rush to get their ship down from the mountain. It truly was a paradise. Warm and tropic with inhabitants walking around with golden skin and half naked fit bodies, the Whitebeard pirates could eat well and be pampered and smoke all kinds of weeds.

"To be honest, this must be the calmest few days we have had for many years." Doc mused.

"Why is that?" Marco asked, mouth filled with cheese.

"This is indeed a fertile land, very rich in crops and wildlife. People from around the world stop by here to get a taste of what it is like to live mainly from the Earth, and they get to trade some food for fabric, clothes and such".

"It really seems peaceful"

"It is, we give them what we can from this fruitful lands, as well as our bodies, all to keep pirates from killing us and just enjoy themselves".

Mey walked with heavy steps towards the little town. She had finally grown sick of the horses. She felt like all they wanted was to chew grass and on her hair occasionally. That panther had been way more fun, but she had not seen it for a few days. She was used to wandering off by herself and for being so young she was incredibly independent.

"Ow!" something had hit her in the back of her head. Something small but hard. She turned around and saw a feather sneak back behind the bushes.

"I can see you! What did you throw at me?"

"Baka! Get down!" someone hissed and the feather disappeared.

"I've already seen you!" Mey said triumphantly, "get out!".

Two sour faces appeared from behind the bush. One that of a young boy, about ten years old and his sister that looked like she was Mey's age.

"You are in our territory!" the boy said.

"Sorry..." Mey muttered and went to turn when something else flew by her, only an inch away from her face. A bullet.


	5. What Flag?

_**A new chapter already? I'm on fire! This is what happens when yer between jobs ;D**_

 _ **Not being a native English speaker, I apologize if there are any mistakes. Feel very free to mark them for me!**_

 _ **ALL FEED BACK & COMMENTS ARE MOST WELCOME**_

 _ **Enjoy folks!**_

 **Chapter 5 - What Flag?**

Mey acted on pure fright and ran on all fours behind the bush where the siblings were hidden. That was a close one. She had not been spotted.

"Hey! Scoot over" the boy said to his sister.

"Phew thanks! Who are they?" Mey hissed when a large group of scruffy men lumbered past on the path in front of them.

"This pirate crew comes by every so often to steal our food" the brother whispered.

"My dad says most people that come here exchange goods with us and get to stay here for free but these ones always come back and just take whatever they like and leave".

They didn't look like a very nice bunch, and they were heading towards the camp where her crew was currently dozing off their day drinking. She knew better than to reveal herself to warn them, so she stayed put. She turned to the siblings.

"I'm Aimeey, my daddy is Whitebeard and he can blow these guys off this island with one single blow" she said proudly.

"I'm Sahir and this is my sister Sarah" the boy said "and that sounds like something you made up! My dad is a smith and he makes the arrows on this island and he is the best smith in the world!"

"I did not make it up! My dad is way stronger than your dad!"

"He's not!"

"Is too!"

Back at the camp, the Moby Dick crew had been spotted laying in the sunset along with several of the Foodvalten tribes, sleeping off the drowsiness.

" _What's the meaning of all this_?!" the Captain with black long straggly hair burst. He had his crew of 17 men with him and he had promised them a long week of relaxing with the women of the island, willing or not. The inhabitants slowly got up, obviously scared of the newcomers. Many recognized them from their previous visit where they had come and abused the hospitality of the people here by raping and stealing from them. The Whitebeard pirates showed little signs of wanting to get up. The black haired captain found Doc and with two big steps walked up to him and grabbed him by his beard.

"Did I not require complete sole right of this island last time I was here?!" he roared in Doc's face.

"My deepest apologies Sir, we did not expect You back to soon, we barely have recovered from your last visit" Doc said in a rather sarcastic tone.

"Well, we did! We raised a flag on one of your largest mountain tops to declare Foodvalten mine! Now what are these low lives doing here laying with our women?!"

"Ehhhh" was heard from the crowd and Marco made an attempt to rise again.

"Mister, we do apologize for the surprise. We docked our ship in a rather peculiar place. Names Marco and would you mind letting go of my friend there?" The black haired pirate raised an eyebrow.

"Marco? As in the Phoenix? You have somewhat of a reputation for being just a kid..."

"Is that so?" Marco grinned.

"Don't get cocky Marc, it doesn't suit you" Joz mumbled as his mountain like figure rose from the ground.

"Shall we bother pops with this?" Marco asked, not letting the black haired pirate go with his eyes.

"Naah.. we'll be quick, let him sleep back in the lodge" Joz said.

"Doc, my friend, you forgot to mention these guys before" Marco said.

"I'm sorry my boy, I simply did not want to ruin the mood. These fine gentlemen grant us with their visits about once a year..."

" _Messing up our crops and raping our women_!" someone yelled from further away.

" _We do not want them here_!"

" _Please help_!"

"Seems yer not welcome here" Marco said.

"Hm" the pirate snorted, grabbed a gun and pointed it at Marco while his other hand still held a tight grip of Doc's beard.

"We claimed this island as ours last time we were here by raising a flag, so I suggest you and your crew take your _peculiarly_ docked ship and leave". His crew laughed.

"What flag?" Marco asked.

" _That flag_!" the black haired pirate pointed the gun towards the mountain top and quickly looked towards where he was pointing and turned back to Marco but only for a split second, then he slowly turned back. On the highest mountain top where the sun was quickly setting, there was, instead of a flag, a massive ship shaped as a white whale.

Now it was the Whitebeard pirates turn to chuckle, along with some members of the Foodvalten tribes. The black haired captain knew little what to do it seemed so he just pulled the trigger and the bullet missed Marco with no more than a centimeter.

" _No_ " Mey had time to exhale before going silent again when she noticed the bullet had not hit anyone. She, Sahir and Sarah hid behind the bushes to watch the tension that happened in the camp. Everyone was now standing and after the shot a there were a few moments of silence before chaos broke loose. The inhabitants of the island had drawn back to give way to the two pirate crews to clash. Doc had been released and was nowhere to be seen. The sun was now completely gone and the moon had taken its place. It was large and incredibly bright which drowned the whole area in a silvery light. Mey was too into watching over the fight she did not notice her new friends looking at her.

"What's happening?" Sarah squeaked.

"What?" Mey asked an turned and got almost blinded by a bright light.

Sarah and her brother started to crawl away from her. Mey had little time to wonder why. A pirate that had tried to sneak away from the fight he knew they would not win had seen something starting to shine along with the moon beams. He was not a smart man, but he did know that shiny things were usually worth money. Without thinking further, he had grabbed it.

Mey felt a harsh hand grab her and yanked her out of her hiding spot. When the man found out it was a human child he got startled and let go. This allowed Mey to see her chance to run off.

Marco was used to fight in darkness and these wimps did not give much of a match.

In the corner of his eye, he could see a small string of light running under legs and dodging swords. He turned around in time to see that light was his little sister.

 **Shorter chapter today! Sorry about that. I really hope yer all enjoying yourselves reading. All comments and feed back rice or rose is welcome! I love it when readers engage in the process! Soon more to come!**


	6. Time to Shine

**OOII!**

 **One week since i updated last. I promise to keep the one week maximum limit.**

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 **Chapter 6 - Time to Shine**

She had no more than a few steps left to reach Marco but was grabbed by her hair and lifted into the air. She screamed out in agony and felt her feet leave the ground. The man had catched up to her and lifted her up towards his face to be able to inspect her closer. She heard Marco shout out her name and she opened her eyes a bit and saw a knife in the corner of her eye.

"One more step and I'll cut her in half" the man holding her said quickly. She could hear the fight die out and some satisfied murmures from the other crew.

Marco could not believe his eyes. It was Mey alright, just not the one he was used to seeing. He had no memory of her marks shining like that.

"So she's with you I presume" the captain of the crew said, stepping out of the crowd, coming over to the man holding on to Mey and the knife. "Strange creature".

"And boss, check it out when I do this" the man holding her said while walking with her towards a tree that cast a shade and stood under it. The light faded. It seemed her marks only reflected the moon beams.

"Extraordinary" Doc exhaled where he stood behind Marco.

"Old man!" the captain with the black sticky hair suddenly shouted towards Doc, "we will hurt this girl if we don't get what has been promised".

"No .. please dear sir, it is just a child and …" the pirate holding Mey's hair squeezed and she let out a shriek.

" _Fine, you scum_!" a female's voice was heard and a young woman with brown shoulder length hair stepped out. Marco reacted, it was one of the Shaman interns from Broadus. She had caught his eye the second he had laid eyes on her. Why was she drawing attention to herself like this?!

"It's me you want, eh? Let the girl go and take me instead!" she said. The black haired pirate captain smiled, his face melting at the sight of her figure. They had met before.

"Rea-san!" he purred, "look at how much you've grown since I last saw you! Get over here!"

Rea did what she was told before anyone could tell her not to. He grabbed her waist and pulled her into a wet kiss. Mey almost choked from disgust when they drew apart which made a squelchy sound.

"Mey what is up with your skin?!" Marco outburst without really grasping the actuality of the situation.

"I'm shining!"

"Does it hurt?"

" _My hair hurts_!" she yelled. Marco took a step towards them and immediately the man took a firmer grip and the captain forced the young woman onto her knees, holding a gun to her head. Marco had to stop.

"You fiend" someone from his crew said.

"You have not seen it all yet" the captain said, "men, start ransacking!". The pirate crew started running through the town, entering all houses grabbing all they could find. The rest stood there, unable to do anything due to the two hostages. One on her knees, one kicking.

"Boss, I'll bring this with me as well" one of them said, coming out of one of the houses, dragging a woman with him, a man running after them, pleading to let her go. Mey heard screams from where she had been hiding and the two siblings came out.

"Mom! Okaa-san!" Sarah yelped as Sahir ran after her. At the sight of someone kicking Sarah when she had almost reached her parents and hearing Sahir scream her name, Mey could not bare it. She turned her head even though it hurt like hell in her scalp, and bit the man holding on to her. She could feel him violently let go of her but quickly took a hold of her neck and smashed her onto the ground. She could hear her brothers react, but everything happened so fast. Before she knew it, the grip loosened and she was free. Other hands quickly took a hold on her and threw her from her spot into other arms. In a matter of ten seconds she had been up n the air, to the ground, pulled up again and all this with a ringing head. She recognized these arms though. She was safe.

Rea had seen it all. The small girl had lost control, all fright and cautiousness at the sight of that other child getting kicked. Some strings of hair had been drawn out in the process of her bite and that scum pirate had just pushed her onto the ground with such force Rea was unsure if she would make it. Her crew had had no chance of reacting, partly due to the wall of arrows that stood between them and the girls. When the black haired captain was about to take another swing at the girl, someone hit him hard on the side of the head. She recognized the hitter, who by the way took care of her own threatener in that same swing of the back of his sword. He had come her on a voyage seeking adventure and had fallen in love with the cuisine culture of Foodvalten and had stayed for a year. Rea could always sense a hunger for adventure as well as cooking in this a brown haired pompadour young man. Thatch she thought he called himself.

All arrows pointed from the Whitebeard group towards the stranger that had saved Mey and tossed her into Marco's arms. This gave them a chance to take them down. The intern girl was also free now thanks to him. It did not take them long to beat the other pirates to the ground. Marco had no issues doing it with one arm, having Mey kicking and screaming to bite more meanies on the other. She was crying mostly out of pain, bless her, but Marco had rarely seen her this angry in less than a day. So many new things happened to her.

The stranger was a good fighter. Marco could not help but look curiously until he noticed, turned to Marco and smiled.

"Greetings friend" he said with a massive smile.

"Right back at you, thanks to your quick reflexes we turned this to our advantage"

"My pleasure! I could see you were in sort of a situation there"

They were not allowed to talk more since they both got caught up in a fight of their own.

Rea made her way towards her friend, Sarah and Sahir's mother, that was still in the claws of a large enemy pirate. Her husband lay on the ground, probably knocked out for trying to rescue her. She grabbed a spear from the ground and jumped from a stone to get more height and pointed her spear towards the man holding onto her friend. She managed to pierce his shoulder but the guy was a monster and managed to take a hold of her neck.

"Gentlemen, allow us to leave in peace or I'll smack these women's heads together!"

Everyone got silent and the big pirate smirked at the fast effect he got. Now they'd be able to escape and he'd have two women of his own.

"Come on guys, now let's leave!" Although none of his crew made an attempt to move. No one did. It was like the very air had gone colder and the wind had frozen. Not a sound was uttered for a few seconds that made this pirate realize something even bigger than him was right behind him.

"Treating women with this lack of respect is the foulest thing a man can do" a low voice mumbled above him. The terrified pirate turned slightly to see the most powerful man on the seas stare down at him with fury.

"Second after waking someone up from their beauty sleep…" he continued.

 _Pretty sure the previous one is slightly worse_ … his crew thought in unison.

Whitebeard took a hold of the man's head with one palm, which resulted in his letting the two women go. Rea immediately went to her friends aid and ran her out of there.

"Now go fly" Whitebeard said before throwing the trembling massive pirate over his shoulder.

Mey exchanged a happy look with Sahir who was held by his parents and sister, raised a proud eyebrow which hurt her head but she did not care.

 _See, told you my dad is stronger_

 **Until next time!**


	7. Do not leave me!

**Hiya! Phew, I made it.**

 **Thanks to everyone who follows/favorites!**

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 **Comment, hug and enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it! Do let me know if I made any mistakes xxx**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 - Do not leave me!**

"I claim this island as Whitebeard territory. Anyone setting a foot on this island, claiming it to be theirs to do whatever they please with, will answer to me or my commanders."

A roar of cheers spread under the uprising sun, coloring the sky with an orange glow. As long as the flag of the strongest pirate since the late Gol D. Roger swayed on this island. No other scum would dare to try and take advantage of Foodvalten or its inhabitants.

The ship was once again on sea level and in the morning, the crew would set out again. Mey had been looked after and now had a bandaid on her forehead. It was astonishing how she had not been more hurt from being thrown into the ground like that.

"It didn't hurt one bit" she said proudly sitting on the ground in front of Rea who was sat on a stone.

"I must say, you were rather brave" Rea grinned and knocked Mey lightly on the head.

"OW .. owowow" Mey said and put her hands on her head "why'd you do that for?"

"Sorry, firefly" Rea said a bit confused. How had that hurt her when getting slammed into the ground had not?

"The more she grows, the more she will worry us" Charlie murmured to Marco. Marco didn't answer. He had his eyes on Oyajii who was deep in a conversation with the tribe Shaman, Doc.

"Edward, it would be dangerous for her to keep up this voyage. Let her stay here, let her be safe on dry land where she can play in the woods and have horses…"

"I am going to stop you right there, Doc. Nothing's changed, so what if she glows in the dark?"

"But she …"

"She is my daughter. The title of sons and daughters do not come to me easily. Once they are my children, they stay that way".

"And as your daughter, would you not want her to be safe? You saw the way those pirates looked at her. They'd go for anything shiny, living or dead. She'd be better off here where she can ride horses, run around in the forest and just be a normal child"

Whitebeard went silent. He knew this Shaman might be right. This island was protected now and she could build a life here in peace. But the feeling of leaving her behind. Would he bring her with them for her sake, or for his own?

A lump of dread formed in Mey's belly, overhearing what Whitebeard and the Shaman was discussing. Leaving her behind? _Not again_!

"You would take care of her if..." Edward started asking Doc.

"Oh yes, oh she will be happy here…"

"I didn't say…" Whitebeard started. This was the first time in his life he had been unsure of what to do.

"Don't leave me" a tiny but firm voice next to him said. The giant man and Doc looked down on the subject of the conversation who had walked up to them and apparently had heard things.

"Oh my dear we are not deciding anything here. I simply put out the facts to your captain here…"

"Pops" the five year old said, not taking any notice of Doc, never letting go of Edward's gaze with her own. He almost felt like smiling. She had called him Pops just like her older brothers and it sounded so peculiar in her little mouth. He could not bring himself to smile though. The soft panic that burned in the child's eyes did not let him do so. She was terrified of getting left behind. He closed his eyes and grinned a little.

"Guess we will have to stop talking about you over your head like this. You're a big girl now". He put a large hand on her head. It ached a little bit but she didn't care. She still didn't leave his eyes, staring up at him from under his palm. She would not look away until she was completely certain he wouldn't leave her. He sighed and leaned down towards her, moving his palm to her side.

"Now listen here, you are my daughter and on Moby Dick you shall remain until you and only you decide to take the leap out into the unknown world beyond the ship". She nodded in agreement and so did he.

Doc sighed.

"Well, I suppose there is no parting you" he chuckled. "But mark my words dearest Edward, she does have a gift that is yet to be completely discovered. I suggest keeping the marks well hidden from the outside world until you fully know what it is that they do".

"All I know is that she shines, and that is all I need to know, gararara" Whitebeard laughed and Doc lifted his beer mug, defeated.

"Here's to saving my sister's life"

" _Kampai_ " _clonk_

Thatch and Marco were sat on the ground and had found two bottles of rum they now drank away at.

"Here's to living freely on the sea!" Marco yelled and they clonked their bottles together again. "Your turn!"

"Eeehh..."

"Oh come on there are literally a million things to cheer for!"

"Eehhh here's to freakin' good rum?" _clonk_

"Here's to your lousy imagination!" _clonk_

"Here's to your hairstyle!" _clonk_

"And here's _to your hairschtyle_!" _clonk_

They downed the rum after each clonk. Marco was faster and lifted his bottle once more.

"YOI and here's to my new nakama!" Thatch stopped in mid air.

"Wait what?"

"I ain't letting this good of a drinking partner stay behind, mate!" Marco slurred and started drinking again. Thatch pondered about it for a moment and then smiled.

"Well, cheers to that!"

"What about me?" said a voice from behind the boys. They turned slightly and saw Rea standing there with a hand on her hip. Marco's tongue suddenly felt twice as big.

"What about you Rea? You also wanna come?" Thatch was surprised.

"Can't let my friend leave without me, eh" she winked at Thatch and looked at Marco.

"Well?"

"Are you sure?" Thatch said before Marco could press out a word.

"Ah well, I'm pretty much done with my education and it's time I went out to see the world. I just thought I'd seize the moment. Now, Marco can I?" she turned to him again.

"Better answer her before she changes her mind…" Thatch hissed but when Marco still was unable to get words past his swollen tongue, Thatch grabbed him by his neck and rocked him violently back and forth so that he made a very uncharming nod. Rea had to choke down a laugh, raised her thumb and left.

 _Now ... what the hell have I done..?_

Rea pressed herself behind a tree and couldn't control her shakes of excitement. She was so stupid and she laughed at it, her hands on her face. She had just happened to walk past the guys when they had talked about Thatch becoming a part of their crew. Without thinking she had invited herself too. It was nothing more than a lame effort to get the attention from that Marco guy. But at the same time she had never felt so alive as she had when her life had been most in danger last night. She _was_ going with this ship and that's that. A shriek of joy escaped her lips.

The next morning came and it was time to set sail once again. Mey stood on the railing waving with both her arms to the people of Foodvalten. They had made two new crew mates and she couldn't be happier. Oyajii had promised never to leave her and she felt certain he would never break that promise.

Rea and Thatch stood side by side, seeing the island get smaller and smaller.

"You sure about this? Being a pirate is not a dance on flowers"

"I know. I think" Rea whispered "I've always dreamed of a life on the ocean, and I figure if a five year old can do it, so can I, I'm ten years her senior for crying out loud".

"Wow, look out…" Thatch said sarcastically and Rea punched him on the arm.

"Shut up!"

Whitebeard had decided before either Thatch and Rea that he had wanted them in his crew. They had potential. He looked at his five year old who still stood waving, even though there was no way the islanders could still see her now.

Marco made his way over to Whitebeard and stood beside him, very nervous and full of guilt.

"Oi, Pops"...

"Hmm?"

"Look I - I am so sorry about what happened to Mey, I should never have let her get hurt …"

"Son"

Marco went silent, gaze stuck on the floor.

"She is all our responsibility. Do not blame yourself. She has made it clear she wants to stay as much as we want her here. Her life is not a safe one, but we will protect her as much as we possibly can. But she will need to become stronger."

Marco nodded. He understood.

Mey's arms ached when she turned to go find something to eat. She didn't get too far. Marco was standing behind her, arms crossed.

"You had me worried sick you know…"

Mey scoffed.

"Yeah yeah…" she dismissed annoyingly and went to walk around him but he took a hold of her lower arm and sat down.

"Listen, you were very brave and I'm proud of you, but..."

"Whaaat? Marc I'm hungry!"

"You're gonna need some training, buddy, and I'm gonna make sure you'll get it"

"OOhhhwwwwwww!"

* * *

 **Until next time xxx**


	8. Devil Fruit User?

**Arrgh, I went one day over time, sorreh! Here it comes!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - Devil Fruit user?**

"It's supposed to be here somewhere, now where have I put it?" Dorothy had gone berserk in the ship's library after she had heard what had happened with the kid.

"Yeah ye know, she started shining like a reflex, it was pretty spooky" Marco had said, his mouth full with steak and potato.

"I had never seen anything like it" Jozu blustered from another table, stealing a rib from his neighbour's plate, holding his head so that he couldn't jump him to take it back.

"You boys are impossible! What does Captain have to say about this?!" Dory yelled and put both her hands on the table but removed them when she noticed beer was spilled on that spot. Maybe it was not such a good idea, trying to talk to the lads during dinner time. She had to yell to be able to get heard over all the commotion that always seemed to happen. She pitied the people having to clean this every single night. The men had come back, and Dory had as usual prepared the infirmary cabin and her nurses in case there were any injuries. To her dismay, Charlie had come with Mey on his arm.

"Eh, I think she needs a look over… she got hit in the head pretty badly" he murmured.

Dory just stood there speechless, looking at the marks that were still reflecting some of the moonlight that came from the window. The girl looked like her normal self, just a little beaten and sour is all.

"I'm hungry…" she just muttered while Dory made sure there was no harmful damage done.

"To be honest Dory, I think she should be in a worse state due to the hit she took. I think those marks did something to her" young Charlie murmured and scratched his light brown messy hair.

"What do you mean?" Dory asked.

"There's something not normal with those marks. Maybe, I don't know, she ate a Devil's Fruit?"

Dory had gone with Charlie back to the dining hall to let Mey eat something. She had ran off into the chaos like she always did, to fetch dinner. Dory had tried to get some info without luck. Those simple minded boys didn't think twice about her marks.

Now she was in the library, the only place you could get some peace and quiet around here, looking for a book that could perhaps draw some light over the situation.

Three hours later she closed the _Devil Fruits Encyclopedia_ with a massive sigh. No fruit made skin reflect the moon beams. The closest one she could find was a Devil's Fruit that made you able to switch on and off like a light bulb. No this was something else. But what?

* * *

The next few nights the moon was out and Mey was shining as she was running around on deck, getting chased by Jozu, laughing along with her or Marco trying his best to make her listen when he told her about the importance of training.

Dory decided to transfer her concerns to a higher power. Later that evening, she went knocking on Edwards door and opened it without waiting for an answer. Whitebeard was laid on his bed.

"For crying out loud, woman, wasn't it you who told me I should have more rest without disturbance and here you are... "

"Sorry, Captain, but I need to speak with you" Dory said, closing the door behind her.

"You're worried" Whitebeard established.

"Shouldn't I be? We have no idea what's going on with her"

"Who knows what's going on with anybody…" Whitebeard started but went silent after a look from Dory.

"Ahhh, come on now Dor, what would you have me do? No one in this crew would know. Not even the Shaman knew what she is"

"What are your orders then?"

"Well, as long as those marks don't hurt anyone, I don't see a reason for alarm" he smiled and Dory couldn't help but smiling back. The door once again opened and in came the small frame of Mey. Her lights faded when she stepped into the room. She saw Dory and stopped her steps for a second and Dory smiled even more.

"Well, if it wasn't anything more, I shall bid you a good night" she said while Mey wandered over to Oyajii's bed.

* * *

"Devil's Fruit eh?", Marco mumbled sat squatted eyeing his little sister who tried to lift the sword that Vista had given her. Dory shook her head.

"I couldn't find anything indicating it, but who can be sure?"

"Could it be?" Rea asked.

"Who knows?" Marco said absent mindedly " _Mey_ , put some effort in will ya!" he continued "what does it matter, it doesn't seem to hurt her, right?"

"But still, aren't you the least bit curious?" Dory said "I mean, that must be the reason those pirates were after her three years ago, remember? What if..."

"No one will take her, got it?" Marco snapped. Rea reacted on his sudden tone. Seemed like a sensitive subject.

"No one says anyone's gonna take her, just…" Dory pushed, but Marco had already risen to his feet and was on his way over to Vista and Mey. Rea shared her thought.

"Seems like a sensitive subject…" she said and Dory sighed.

"I do not know what that boy would do if Mey disappeared, he had to fight for a good while to keep her on this ship when she came on. Not too many were happy about the fact to have a toddler on board. But since Captain was in on it, they had to deal with it. Once she was almost left behind on an island and it has been a pretty delicate matter since then, not the least for her, but nowadays she is very loved and no one would do anything to"... she was unable to finish her sentence because Marco had grabbed Mey and thrown her over the railing into the ocean, checking if she'd be a hammer and sink.

" _What the hell_!" yelled the women and ran over to see Mey spitting out water and splashing while laughing, " _again_!"

"No Devil's fruit then .. _ow_ " Marco said while getting smacked over the head by Rea and Dory.

 ** _~*~ Mey 10 years old_ _~*~_**

"Why do I have to?!" she hissed.

It was a cloudy night and it was dead silent.

"Because you're the only one that can fit in there, we've talked about this; you crawl in there, walk around to the main entrance and open the doors to let us in" Marco whispered back "piece of cake!"

"What if I get stuck!"

"Hey!" Marco said as low as he could manage which wasn't too quiet since Charlie and Rea hushed him furiously and Marco calmed himself.

" _You're the reason we are here so you're gonna have to, now get your butt in there"_ Marco hissed with an edge that made Mey poute and do as he said.

The hole had been made by loosening a rock in the stone wall of the massive house they had sneaked upon. They had docked at an island where Nobles were no singularity in the specific city they were now stuck in. They had docked in the more rural area where few people had seen them, like they usually do not to cause worry among the citizens. They had been forced into this posh city due to an unfortunate event caused by the little marked child they sometimes are sorry to call their sister.

 ** _Flashback to earlier that day_**

 _"Oh you low life pirates have no idea how to live your lives. I strongly pity you", the up-nosy child Mey had met when she had been strolling by herself, minding her own business, on the pretty street with the pretty flowers._

 _"I have not seen you around here before, are you a tourist?" the boy with a pig nose and perfectly combed hair had asked her while licking a lolly pop._

 _"You could say that" Mey said with a sneaky grin._

 _"Where are your parents? Are you here alone?"_

 _"Stop asking questions will ye" she said._

 _"I have never heard a girl with that sort of language. You sound like a disgusting pirate"._

 _"Pirates ain't disgusting! I happen to be one!" she scolded at him. He grinned because now he had her full attention. He licked his lolly pop again._

 _"A girl being a pirate? Am I supposed to believe that? You don't seem strong enough to fight a squirrel"._

 _"I'm strong, and I am a pirate! Me and my crew are out to find treasures and fight bad guys all the time!"_

 _"You know, pirates are bad guys! They're evil and not good for anything" he pushed._

 _"How do you know that? Have you met all of them?"_

 _"No, but my father says so! He is a major and run over his own department in a marine stronghold. Marines are considered heroes. Pirates are not! I don't understand why on Earth you would lie about being one!"_

 _"I am one! I can prove it. I know where our ship is docked, I'll show you!"_

 _Said and done. Mey had taken the noble boy to see Moby Dick, and she proudly pointed at the ship. The boy on the other hand did not seem too impressed._

 _"So? That doesn't mean you live there"_

 _"Yes it does! I know there's a treasure map on the lower deck. We are heading towards the X as we speak! Hang on!"_

 _She ran down to the office where she knew a treasure map they had come across a few weeks ago. It was supposed to take them to this underground jewelry mine. This would shut that boy up!_

 _She grabbed it from the table and ran as fast as she could back to dry land and held up the map._

 _"See?!" She enjoyed to see that the boy's eyes grew wide with awe. That feeling was soon replaced by dismay, as the boy had pushed her hard and taken the map, all the while laughing loudly, running off. Mey had screamed at him to return it, while trying to run after him but he was too fast. He managed to get back to his massive mansion and the gates closed behind him and Mey was stood on the other side, glaring at him. The boy turned, put out his tongue and entered the house. Mey put her hands on the lattice._

 _Marco's gonna kill me_

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed it. Over and out!**


	9. Get the map back!

**Happy Sunday guys! Summer has arrived to Sweden, it is insane how hot it is!**

 **Here's some reading for ya!**

 **Please do review it makes me so happy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - Get the map back!**

" _You did what?!_ " Marco, Jozu and Charlie screamed in unison, Mey standing in front of them, seeming to find something on the floor terribly interesting.

"You gave away our map to the mine?! You know how important that is for us to be able to find that damn place?" Jozu said

"What were you thinking?!" Marco asked.

"Well! He didn't believe me when I said I was a pirate and he said pirates are stupid…"

"People believing you're not a pirate is a _good thing_ you idiot!" Marco fleaked in.

"Mey, if we are gonna get to that jewel mine to be able to pay back the debt _you_ caused us, betting three of our ships to the Karma pirates in a game of Yenka… we're gonna have to get it back" Jozu had calmly said.

* * *

Mey cursed quietly, making her way through the aperture. She made it out to the other side behind an armchair which made it seem she had entered a living room. She quietly stood up and looked around the room. Dark and quiet. Lucky! Now to go open the front ...

 _Waff waff!_

Mey's heart almost stopped

 _Waff!_

She slowly turned to see a tiny white dog look up at her with large brown eyes and a wagging tail, clearly happy to see her.

" _Shoo… freck off, you're gonna get me caught"_ she whispered and made an attempt to sneak off. A few steps later she heard small paws pitter-patter after her, along with a tiny bell that sang along the sound of the tiny dogs paws. Once again she had to turn around.

"Shoo! Go away". No luck. The dog just stood there, looking at her. She turned around again to walk to the front door to let the guys in when she heard heavy steps from the stairs.

" _Shit_!" she ran back into the living room and jumped into a closet just before a man entered the room. He was tall and wore a red velvet robe and slippers.

"Stupid mongrel, what the hell are you barling for?! Shut up!" Mey heard the dog shriek as the man kicked it. It crouched with its tail between its legs and whimpered.

"Tsk, thought I'd be getting a fierce guarding dog but you do not seem to grow now do you? Stupid dog!" the man muttered while walking towards Mey's hiding spot probably, to fetch something. Suddenly the dog stood in front of him, growling while shaking, not allowing the man to pass.

"What's gotten into you now? Move aside, stupid dog" he lifted his foot to aim a kick at the animal again. Mey could feel heat, similar to the one she had felt on Foodvalten, bubble up and she quickly, without thinking, lashed out of the closet, pushing the man off and sent him flying a good few yards and land on his back. She now stood, looking at the man, rage mixed with confusion and fright.

* * *

"Where the hell is she, it's been more than five minutes! Something must've happened.." Marco panicked, he had let his annoyance with her take over and not thought twice about her crawling into one of the biggest houses he had ever seen.

They had arrived to Margo's Cove that morning to stretch their legs and wait for the log pose to set for the next island, an island of which they had had the luck to come across a treasure map to. Apparently there was rumored to be a pretty spectacular jewelry mine there and that map would be able to show them the way. It had been found in the ship's library a few months ago, falling out of one of the books Dory had looked through. It was an adventure not to go to waste. If it wasn't for Mey… who had gone off on her own as she usually does, gone in a fight with a local rich kid and to prove she really is a fierce pirate she had shown him the map since apparently, showing off their ship _clearly_ wasn't enough.

"Ten minutes now…" Charlie whispered.

"That does it", Rea said loudly, causing Charlie to fiercely shush at her. She ignored him, got up and went for the front door and knocked.

A loud knock was heard through the big hall and living room next to it in which Mey, the owner of the house and the little white dog stood, not thirty seconds after she had barged out. The man had got up and brushed off, then he laughed.

"Well... " he said, "could there be more intruders?" he said while a butler came out of nowhere to gently open the door to a young brunette, not more than 20 years old.

"Excuse me sir, I believe there is some things in there that belong to us…"

"I'm in here, Rea" Mey shouted from the living room, still facing that man. The little dog had walked off into a corner to lick his wounds.

The three pirates entered the house despite the butler's protests and went into the living room.

"You okay Mey?" Marco asked and she nodded.

"Sorry sir" Rea said, "we simply came to get our sister back, along with a map that supposedly your son took from her". The man lifted his eye brows with a grin.

"A map? No one has given me such a thing, perhaps we should ask my son. Froydvind, get in here!" the man shouted and the boy from earlier entered the hall, reacting on the presence of Mey.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he exclaimed.

"What do you think Freywund"

"Froydvind!"

"Not better…"

"Mey" Marco warned.

"Please sir, there has been a mistake, could you accept an apology and we can get the map back?" Rea tried and the man grinned wider.

"Son, is this true. Was that gift you gave me a map?"

"Yes whatever, I don't care, they can have the stupid piece of paper back!" the kid said and left.

"That's big of you my son, well, help yourselves!" the man said and pointed at his pin-board over an office desk. All eyes were set on it.

"Sorry I don't see it" Marco said.

"Oh? Well it is right there, my son made some adjustments and it turned out rather nice don't you think".

A moments of silence while they inspected the board and at the same time they all noticed it. The map was there alright, but had been drawn over with crayons. Dragons and knights now covered the sheet, making it seem more of a silly kids drawing than an actual treasure map. No sound came from anyone as the realization became present. The man ripped the previous map from the board and waved it in the air.

"See, I did not know it was a treasure map since it came to me this way. No matter to me, since I suppose you can already see I already do have everything I can ever wish for. Compared to sea rats such as yourselves I do not need to look for gold to be happy... Now I am sure with some water and soap, this could come off" he said and reached the previous map towards Mey.

"Now little girl come get it". Without thinking further, Mey did as she was told, went up to get the map, things happened very quickly after that. From behind his back, the man had a revolver which he quickly revealed and pointed it at Mey.

"Scum, the next generation should not be overflown by pirate rats, die, and let us be in peace", he said and pulled the trigger. Marco reacted quicker and ran up, pushed Mey aside and took the shot in half Phoenix form making the bullets go trough him and hit the wall behind him without him getting hurt by them. The man shot him two more times without luck. In shock it seemed, he took a few steps back, towards the fire place and tossed the map into the flames.

"No!" Rea yelled and was about to leap towards the fire.

"It ain't worth it, grab Mey and run" Marco said.

"You won't get away" the man said and pointed the gun towards Mey again who still sat on the floor. Marco saw this too, grabbed his arm and yanked it so hard the man lost his balance and stumbled towards the fire. He regained his balance, but not before his robe accidentally caught fire from the fire place in which he had thrown the map. He started to scream when the heat started licking his legs, and the flames grew larger and larger.

"Shit, it's gonna catch the curtains, grab Mey!" Marco yelled but as soon as he had said that, Mey started screaming bloody murder. She crawled towards a corner to get away from the fire, panicked.

"Shit what's wrong?!" Marco said before he threw himself on the man to put out the fire. Mey saw him throw himself onto the flames and got up.

" _Noo_!" she screamed, leaping onto him to pull him away.

"Will you grab her already!" Marco yelled, having Mey pull his leg while hitting the fire off the man's robe. Charlie ran up to take her off him as the robe stopped burning and the house was out of danger. They all ran out of the mansion and back to the ship, Mey all the time screaming, almost over powering the sound of sirens that roared across the island, alarming that pirates were near. Once they reached Moby Dick, they set sail once more while fighting off approaching marines.

Mey was sat curled up by the wall while her nakama fought in the darkness. All she could see inside of her head were massive flames eating the sails of a small ship, and people screaming out in sorrow and pain.

* * *

 **Over and out! Until next time xxx**


	10. Next stop

**Thought I'd post some weekend reading for you folks.** Enjoy and have a good one xxx

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – Next stop...**

Her hands held onto her head and she tried to force the images out of her brain. Something with those out of control flames had made something break inside of her and she could not help but scream.

The Whitebeards were slowly getting away from the marines. After all there were only two of the enemy ships and everyone knew that Moby Dick wouldn't budge for even twenty of those. Not surprisingly, the marines gave up after a while and Moby Dick could sail off into the night.

"Oi, Marco how did it go?" asked Embleton with a sly grin when it was once again calm.

"Not well, Emble, not well..." Marco said loudly and annoyed.

"The map was destroyed along with almost that whole mansion" Rea said.

"I take it, the mission failed, kiddos" a voice came from behind the group. For such a large man, Whitebeard really had a way of sneaking up to people.

"Correct, Captain" Marco mumbled.

"Ah, I am sorry for you" Whitebeard said and turned towards Mey who still sat crawled up like a tiny ball against the wall.

"What's up with tot?" he said and pointed a thumb towards her and looked at Rea, Charlie and Marco and Marco walked so that he was closer to Whitebeard and said in a low voice:

"There was an accident where a fireplace went out of control for a bit. Sent her into a panic. Oyajii, I think she remembers…"

"It was traumatic for her, that night, so not surprising. We should tuck her in and speak to her in the morning and…"

Waff

A silence was set upon the group and Whitebeard and Marco looked down at their feet where a tiny white dog was stood, tongue hanging out its smiling mouth. Whitebeard looked at Marco.

"Care to explain?"

"Seems we failed to get the map but brought you a pet instead, pops" Marco grinned, not knowing what else to do.

Mey had also heard the tiny bark and opened her eyes and removed her hands from her face. Had the dog followed them onto the ship?

So it seems. After Charlie had picked a screaming Mey up in one arm and dragged Rea out in the other, the dog had ran after. Being so small it went unnoticed with them and boarded the ship that in a haste had left the shore.

"Well, I am grateful for that!" Whitebeard said in a happy tone and lifted the little dog up in his massive palm.

"Everyone, let's go to bed, it has been a hectic night. Make sure you get some rest. And we will talk in the morning" the last thing he said to Marco alone before he went towards his own cabin while talking to the puppy:

"I shall call you Stefan, oh yes I am!"

* * *

"Hey" Mey looked up and saw Rea stand there, a hand outstretched, "time for bed, firefly". Mey closed her eyes tighter, and she covered her face with her arms.

"Please do not call me that".

"Mey what's wrong, what happened over there?" Rea asked but Mey had already thrown her arms around her and Rea just lifted her up and carried her below deck towards her bedroom. Rea stayed with Mey until she was certain she was alright.

"Fire is dangerous and it is wise to be careful with it. You are safe now, you know that right. You are always safe on this ship. Nothing can happen to you here" Rea assured. Having been on this ship for five years now, she had grown incredibly fond of everyone and never felt the slightest bit unsafe.

"I know, as long as I am here I'm fine" Mey smiled and closed her eyes.

Rea left the room, feeling still a bit worried but also very tired. She took off around a corner in the corridor towards her own room that she shared with one of the girls from the nursing team. Once she had disappeared, Marco took a step from the shadows.

There was a silent knock on the door and Marco entered Mey's chamber. He reacted. She had not lit her candle on her night stand as she usually does.

"Just wanted to check that you're okay, kiddo" he mumbled from the door opening. She sat up, not saying a word. Marco did not really know what to say but he lingered for a bit before starting to close the door.

"Oi Marc" she mumbled and he stopped and opened the door a bit more.

"If I should not let people know I am a pirate, then what am I?" Mey asked.

"Well, you're Mey"

"I know that" she snapped, in her same old tone and Marco shuckled.

"Well … I suppose you are a pirate if you want to be" he winked.

Mey smiled at that.

"Yoi, I am sorry I yelled at you earlier… Sometimes I just worry about you and if people know you are with this pirate crew, well..." he mumbled. He was not good at this.

"It's okay" she smiled, feeling herself become slightly lighter. A lot of her sadness had been guilt about the map. And as if Marco could read her mind he said:

"And don't worry about the map, we know what island it's on and I remember pretty much what it looks like. We will figure things out together, eh!" he smiled and she smiled back.

"Yes"!

"Well .. you need some rest, go ahead and go to sleep and I'll see you in the morning"

"Okay", she said before he winked again and closed the door. Mey could finally breathe out and collapsed on her bed. Her first adventure had surely been tiring.

* * *

Marco closed the door silently, sighed and went back upstairs to the dining hall where the kitchen crew had made midnight snacks for the ones that remained up. Five of his mates were sat together, drinking coffee and other beverages and munched on some sandwiches. He grabbed a bottle of beer from a bucket with cold water, opened it on the bucket's edge and went to sit next to his nakama. There were Jozu, Charlie, Vista, Emble and Haruta.

"She's fine then" Vista mumbled.

"As fine as she can be, I shouldn't have brought her…"

"Maah she'll have to come along at some point. Can't keep her on this ship all the time" Vista said, "when I was ten I was already a skilled swordsman and could take on five men in one blow!"

"How were you supposed to know his robe would catch fire and that she would react like that", Haruta said, "don't blame yourself. Now, about the map".

"Well it turned into a child's drawing before it turned into ash. We won't see it again" Charlie said. Marco nodded.

"Aye, we will just have to try and find the mine without it. Karma said only jewels will do and apparently these ones are supposed to be spectacular…"

"Those could be rumors" Jozu muttered "I mean, no one has ever actually said they've seen this mine, for all we know it could be a freaking fairy tale"

"Well, how about not dissing every idea I'm putting out there, or maybe you'd like to become Karma's debt, you massive wedding ring…" Marco muttered.

"What was that..!" Jozu growled and they faced each other.

"Guys come on…" Haruta said tiredly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Who is this Karma anyway?" Thatch came out from the kitchen with a trey of olives and cheese and sat down.

"This guy we came across in a bar not long ago, friendly bloke, just stubborn as hell and when he won over Mey, fair and square, he did not budge".

"He is a sucker for jewles..." Haruta said.

"So we'll just have to bring him part of our next catch, no big deal"

"Causes us a bit of trouble that girl eh?" Thatch laughed.

"You could say that again" Marco said with a hint of a smile.

* * *

Something woke her. The cabin was as dark and silent as usual at this hour. Still Mey sat up. Sleeping no more, but still not fully awake. Her eyes focused yet unfocused. She sat like that for a while, before her head turned towards the door. Something called her. Not sure why, but she still got up and barefoot with only her night gown on, she went upstairs up on deck. It was a chilly night but she did not feel it. Her eyes was stuck on a spot on the approaching island.

They rarely docked the ship in nighttime and let down the anchor to await light. Mey was not going to wait. She jumped.

"Seems we've reached the island, exciting stuff to try and find that mine tomorrow... what the..." Thatch had said and added that last bit when if felt like the ship was falling.

"What's going on? Sea King?"

"Nah, it's somtehing else" Marco said slowly, "come on!"

They all ran outside to see the dark island a good two hundred meters away, dark and lush with what seemed like lightning bugs roamed around.

"Eh, Commander..." someone said and caught Marco's attention from the island. He looked at his nakama who pointed towards the water, that was gone.

* * *

 **I'm sorry about the rather short chapter. It was sort of a bridge chapter into our next adventure! Be careful with fire and have a great weekend!**


End file.
